West End leaders and high-end London retailers, hoteliers and pub owners have backed a Conservative Party pledge to restore tax-free shopping for tourists, the Evening Standard has reported. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has promised to allow tourists to claim back VAT on their shopping by reversing a rule change made after Brexit. Westminster City Council's Conservative administration said it had been urging the UK Government to bring back tax-free shopping since it took control of the local authority from Labour in May.
Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE, Leader of Westminster City Council, said:
"This research further underlines what everyone knows: that London, as a global visitor centre, is losing out to other capitals in not courting our overseas visitors.
"It is madness to effectively signpost foreign shoppers to Milan or Paris when they could be spending money here in the West End."
Cllr Swaddle urged the Labour government to "put London on the same footing as its international competitors" by matching the Conservative pledge, adding:
"The Government proclaims its intention to level up the country, but that shouldn't mean putting London at a disadvantage when money spent in Westminster will benefit the whole of the UK."
Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, said reinstating VAT-free shopping "would put us on a level playing field with the likes of Rome, Paris and Milan," and could provide an estimated £2.6 billion net return to the Treasury. Businesses backing the policy include Maybourne, which owns The Berkeley, The Emory, Claridge's and The Connaught, alongside pub group Fuller, Smith and Turner.
A Treasury spokesperson said visitors can still claim VAT relief where items are shipped directly to their home country as exports.
You can read Patrick Daly's article for the Evening Standard in full on their website.
